Cardinal Tagle: Pope Francis does not want to be treated as a celebrity

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. Photo from Tagle’s official Facebook page.

MANILA — Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said that Pope Francis does not want to be treated as a celebrity, saying that he is a regular human being.

During a forum held at the Letran College Saturday, the Cardinal shared his conversation with the Holy Father in November last year at the Vatican.

“The real Francis, I’m a regular human being, but they are making me a celebrity, a star. That’s not me,” according to the cardinal quoting the pope.

With this, Tagle reiterated that the pontiff wants the faithful to focus on Jesus and not on him.

“Last Nov., in a private meeting with him (Pope Francis) before I left Rome, he said, I know that the preparations are in full swing for my visit.

I do not want to be the focus of the pastoral visit — Jesus should be the focus,” he said.

Asked on what is the significant of the pope’s visit to the country, the head of the Archdiocese of Manila said, “Every papal visit is a significant in a unique way because every Pope is a unique person, wearing his own personality, his own trainings and the world changes, the Church changes. so, those things merged and converged to make every papal visit a unique.”

On the other hand, Tagle said that the Church and government officials met in Malacanang last week for the overview and final touches of the security of the visiting Holy Father.

He noted that the best way to ensure security is to be paranoid.

“I heard from the one in charge of the papal security that one of the rules, if you are the person in charge of the security, you must be a paranoid. That’s the best way to ensure his security.

And I saw how paranoid they are. They see danger everywhere,” the Cardinal added.

The Presidential Security Group (PSG) has been tapped to provide security for the pope, aside from his usual security, the Swiss Guards.